Dataset Information

Longitudinal functional connectivity changes related to dopaminergic decline in Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that basal ganglia functional connectivity is altered in Parkinson's disease (PD) as compared to healthy controls. However, such functional connectivity alterations have not been related to the dopaminergic deficits that occurs in PD over time.

Objectives

To examine whether functional connectivity impairments are correlated with dopaminergic deficits across basal ganglia subdivisions in patients with PD both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Methods

We assessed resting-state functional connectivity of basal ganglia subdivisions and dopamine transporter density using ¹¹C-PE2I PET in thirty-four PD patients at baseline. Of these, twenty PD patients were rescanned after 19.9 ± 3.8 months. A seed-based approach was used to analyze resting-state fMRI data. ¹¹C-PE2I binding potential (BP_ND) was calculated for each participant. PD patients were assessed for disease severity.

Results

At baseline, PD patients with greater dopaminergic deficits, as measured with ¹¹C-PE2I PET, showed larger decreases in posterior putamen functional connectivity with the midbrain and pallidum. Reduced functional connectivity of the posterior putamen with the thalamus, midbrain, supplementary motor area and sensorimotor cortex over time were significantly associated with changes in DAT density over the same period. Furthermore, increased motor disability was associated with lower intraregional functional connectivity of the posterior putamen.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that basal ganglia functional connectivity is related to integrity of dopaminergic system in patients with PD. Application of resting-state fMRI in a large cohort and longitudinal scanning may be a powerful tool for assessing underlying PD pathology and its progression.

SUBMITTER: Li W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7490914 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Longitudinal functional connectivity changes related to dopaminergic decline in Parkinson's disease.

Li Weihua W Lao-Kaim Nick P NP Roussakis Andreas-Antonios AA Martín-Bastida Antonio A Valle-Guzman Natalie N Paul Gesine G Soreq Eyal E Daws Richard E RE Foltynie Tom T Barker Roger A RA Hampshire Adam A Piccini Paola P

NeuroImage. Clinical 20200902

<h4>Background</h4>Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that basal ganglia functional connectivity is altered in Parkinson's disease (PD) as compared to healthy controls. However, such functional connectivity alterations have not been related to the dopaminergic deficits that occurs in PD over time.<h4>Objectives</h4>To examine whether functional connectivity impairments are correlated with dopaminergic deficits across basal ganglia subdivisions in ...[more]

PMID: 32916466

Similar Datasets

Project description:Deficits in cognitive functioning are a common yet poorly understood symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD). Recent studies have highlighted the importance of (dynamic) interactions between resting-state networks for cognition, which remains understudied in PD. We investigated how altered (dynamic) functional interactions between brain networks relate to cognitive dysfunction in PD patients. In this fMRI study, 50 PD patients (mean age 65.5 years ± 6.27) on dopaminergic medication were studied cross-sectionally, and of this cohort 31 PD patients were studied longitudinally. MRI imaging and neuropsychological testing was performed at two time points, with a follow-up duration of approximately three years. Functional connectivity within and between seven resting-state networks was calculated (both statically and dynamically) and correlated with four neuropsychological test scores; a combined score of (four) executive tasks, a motor perseveration, memory, and category fluency task. Cognitive dysfunction was determined based on a longitudinal sample of age-matched healthy controls (n = 13). PD patients showed dysfunction on six out of seven cognitive tasks when compared to healthy controls. Severity of executive dysfunction was correlated with higher static and lower dynamic functional connectivity between deep gray matter regions and the frontoparietal network (DGM-FPN). Over time, declining executive function was related to increasing static DGM-FPN connectivity, together with changes of connectivity involving the dorsal attention network (amongst others with the ventral attention network). Static functional connectivity between the ventral and dorsal attention network correlated with motor perseveration. Our findings demonstrate that in PD patients, dysfunctional communication between (i) subcortical, fronto-parietal and attention networks mostly underlies worsening of executive functioning, (ii) attention networks are involved in motor perseveration.

Project description:Dynamic functional connectivity captures temporal variations of functional connectivity during MRI acquisition and it may be a suitable method to detect cognitive changes in Parkinson's disease. In this study, we evaluated 118 patients with Parkinson's disease matched for age, sex and education with 35 healthy control subjects. Patients with Parkinson's disease were classified with normal cognition (n = 52), mild cognitive impairment (n = 46), and dementia (n = 20) based on an extensive neuropsychological evaluation. Resting state functional MRI and a sliding-window approach were used to study the dynamic functional connectivity. Dynamic analysis suggested two distinct connectivity 'States' across the entire group: a more frequent, segregated brain state characterized by the predominance of within-network connections, State I, and a less frequent, integrated state with strongly connected functional internetwork components, State II. In Parkinson's disease, State I occurred 13.89% more often than in healthy control subjects, paralleled by a proportional reduction of State II. Parkinson's disease subgroups analyses showed the segregated state occurred more frequently in Parkinson's disease dementia than in mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition groups. Further, patients with Parkinson's disease dementia dwelled significantly longer in the segregated State I, and showed a significant lower number of transitions to the strongly interconnected State II compared to the other subgroups. Our study indicates that dementia in Parkinson's disease is characterized by altered temporal properties in dynamic connectivity. In addition, our results show that increased dwell time in the segregated state and reduced number of transitions between states are associated with presence of dementia in Parkinson's disease. Further studies on dynamic functional connectivity changes could help to better understand the progressive dysfunction of networks between Parkinson's disease cognitive states.

Project description:The pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease is the degeneration of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons, leading to depletion of striatal dopamine. Recent neuroanatomical work has identified pathways for communication across striatal subdivisions, suggesting that the striatum provides a platform for integration of information across parallel corticostriatal circuits. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease was associated with impairments in functional connectivity across striatal subdivisions, which could potentially reflect reduced integration across corticostriatal circuits. Utilizing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we analyzed functional connectivity in 39 patients with Parkinson's disease, both "on" and "off" their regular dopaminergic medications, along with 40 age-matched healthy controls. Our results demonstrate widespread impairments in connectivity across subdivisions of the striatum in patients with Parkinson's disease in the "off" state. The administration of dopaminergic medication significantly improved connectivity across striatal subdivisions in Parkinson's disease, implicating dopaminergic deficits in the pathogenesis of impaired striatal interconnectivity. In addition, impaired striatal interconnectivity in the Parkinson's disease "off" state was associated with pathological decoupling of the striatum from the thalamic and sensorimotor (SM) networks. Specifically, we found that although the strength of striatal interconnectivity was positively correlated with both (i) the strength of internal thalamic connectivity, and (ii) the strength of internal SM connectivity, in both healthy controls and the Parkinson's disease "on" state, these relationships were absent in Parkinson's disease when in the "off" state. Taken together our findings emphasize the central role of dopamine in integrated striatal function and the pathological consequences of striatal dopamine denervation in Parkinson's disease.

Dataset Information

Longitudinal functional connectivity changes related to dopaminergic decline in Parkinson's disease.

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Longitudinal functional connectivity changes related to dopaminergic decline in Parkinson's disease.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets